CANBERRA: Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has clarified comments he made about his position on the proposed indigenous voice to federal parliament.
Following a media conference Mr Dutton held this morning in Canberra a range of news outlets reported him as still being undecided about his attitude to the referendum.
Reports from the news conference said Mr Dutton had responded “I don’t know” when asked whether he backed the voice referendum.
But the Opposition Leader’s office later issued a statement saying Mr Dutton had actually said “I don’t. No”.
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TOOWOOMBA: Dozens of women attending a Country Women’s Association (CWA) regional conference in Toowoomba were rushed to hospital after collapsing in distress during an entertainment segment programmed into the conference’s lunch break.
A CWA spokesperson said the incident happened during what organisers had planned as a light-hearted lunchtime speech by Olympic swimmer Emily Seebohm.
But a booking mix-up saw noted Brisbane drag queen M.L.E. C-Bomb take to the stage and deliver her trademark profanity-laden routine.
A Toowoomba Hospital spokesperson said the CWA members were all resting comfortably and were ready to be discharged but had insisted on staying until after afternoon tea.
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MELBOURNE: Two respected public policy analysts from the think tank the Grattan Institute have authored an issues paper setting out reasons to support a change in the taxation arrangements for superannuation accounts held by wealthy individuals with the highest balances.
The paper written by former Grattan Institute CEO, John Daley, and the institute’s tax reform expert, Brendan Coates, said the government’s position was “built on principle” and were supported by the electorate.
“The federal government’s plan to restrict superannuation tax breaks would create a fairer superannuation system more aligned to its purpose of providing income to supplement the age pension,” they wrote.
Daley and Coates said the government’s plan would benefit taxpayers by trimming “overly generous super tax breaks” enjoyed by people “wealthy enough to be comfortable in retirement and unlikely to qualify for the age pension”.
They said the government’s proposals would affect a small percentage of superannuants and the changes would “simply affect taxes paid on future super earnings, and entitlements to make future contributions to super”.
APOLOGY: The Bug wishes to apologise to its reader for the publication of the last item above which was due to an error in the production process. The issues paper written by John Daley and Brendan Coates was actually released in September 2016 in response to plans by the then Coalition federal government to rein in superannuation tax breaks unfairly favouring wealthy individuals with the highest account balances. The report is available at www.grattan.edu.au.
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